


sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart

by chaoticlywise



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 4+1, Angst, BAMF Hunk (Voltron), Blood and Injury, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gen, Head Injury, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hurt Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Missions Gone Wrong, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Protective Hunk (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), Protective Lance (Voltron), Protective Pidge | Katie Holt, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Rescue Missions, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Team as Family, Whump, im so sorry for all the tags pls dont kill me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:28:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticlywise/pseuds/chaoticlywise
Summary: “Pidge is the smallest and youngest on the team, so it was no wonder she was the one they all strove to protect above all else with a fierceness that nobody could deny.”Or:four times the team worried about Pidge and one time they realized they didn’t have to.
Relationships: Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro
Comments: 26
Kudos: 130





	1. Red

**Author's Note:**

> So first, yes the title is a Winnie the Pooh quote. It just felt very appropriate and the concept of naming a fic after something Winnie the Pooh said made me laugh and thus, this fic was born.
> 
> Quick side note before y’all start reading just so there’s no confusion: this whole fic will be set around seasons 1 and 2. 
> 
> Okay, I think that’s all you need to know before getting started! I hope y’all enjoy!

When Shiro woke them up at their usual time for breakfast and training, they were all thoroughly surprised. He usually let them sleep in a little after big missions.

They were all tired, even Keith himself could admit it. 

The previous day, they'd liberated another planet from Galran rule. It hadn't been planned and it had taken several grueling hours of hard work and battle, but they’d finally done it. 

And they got their asses absolutely handed to them multiple times before doing so.

So, gathered on the training deck with his fellow Paladins, Keith watches Pidge sway in the corner of his eye. Her eyes were half-lidded and her hair was more mussed than usual. Deep bags rested under her eyes, purposely covered by her glasses.

Keith fully glanced at Pidge, who looked absolutely dead on her feet, even decked out in full Paladin armor, minus the helmet. She had done so much for the mission the day before and ended up crashing for a good 12 hours on the couch in the lounge room. She was well rested but the battle had left her weary looking. 

Keith knew that if he was tired, then Pidge must’ve been running on empty. She very rarely slept in her own bed, preferring the method of working herself until she passed out from sleep deprivation or until Shiro dragged her to her bed. The day before the mission had been no different, spending that whole night upgrading her Lion; how was she supposed to know they would be battling a whole fleet of Galran’s the next day for hours on end?

So, not only had the mission taken a lot out of her, the fact that she hadn’t had proper sleep in at least a week made her look exhausted, even if she had taken that nap in the lounge room.

In front of him, Shiro is giving his morning huddle talk; bolstering and preparing them for the day. Keith really wished he’d been paying more attention to what Shiro was saying rather than being too occupied with worrying about Pidge because when Shiro asks, “any questions?” his eyes snap forward, panicked.

“Yeah,” Lance groans, still stretching on the floor. “Why didn’t you let us sleep in a little today?” 

For once, Keith is grateful for Lance and his bluntness and reminds himself to be a little nicer to the team’s sharpshooter today.

“Yesterday, we got our asses handed to us. Even if we freed those people, the Galra still always had some upper hand on us,” Shiro explains, looking over his fatigued team. “I want to get right to training so we can figure out what we need to do to fix that. We need to be prepared. So today, we’re gonna do a little old-fashioned hand to hand combat and see if there are any issues there.”

There are lazy nods given throughout the group and Shiro smiles, clearly enjoying no protests for once, clapping his hands a few times to gain their attention again. 

“Alright,” he says, a little glee in his voice. “Let’s get started.”

He slowly looks over the group, and his eyes settle on Keith, looking mischievous in a way he hadn’t since his Garrison days. It puts Keith on edge; that look on Shiro’s face never meant anything good.

“Keith, Pidge, you’re up,” Shiro says to the surprised Paladins. “Remember, no bayards: we’re strictly working on hand to hand today. I’ll allow shields since you’d probably have them out in the field, but that’s it.”

Keith shrugs, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible as he walks out onto the middle of the deck, listening for the drag of Pidge’s feet across the floor. In battle, she was deft, light on her feet and tactical. There were little others he would like to have by his side. However, fighting against her was different; she could be a formidable foe and he was secretly glad for the fact that she was tired today.

They face each other with a few feet of space between them and Keith falls into a loose battle stance just before Pidge does the same, albeit a little more lethargically than he does.

Glancing up, he waits for Shiro’s ‘okay’ and stares her down with fierce determination, brows furrowed and lips pursed.

Now that Pidge is out on the floor, there’s that lively gleam back in her eye, clever and sharp as they roam around, assessing. Then, a small smirk graces her lips, and it’s almost menacing. It’s entirely unnecessary but Keith perks at the tactic meant to make him think, ‘she knows something I don’t’.

Unlike Keith, who sometimes let his emotions get the better of him and would rush headlong into situations without thinking of the consequences, the terrifying thing about Pidge is that she always assessed her situation from all angles before going in. Almost never does she have a blind spot or something unplanned for; that little smirk was all a part of her ploy.

She was small and scrappy and very, very smart. People underestimated her often and she let them, using her small stature as a defense before letting loose and wreaking absolute havoc.

There’s a small beeping sound, indicating the start of the match, and they begin to circle each other. 

Keith knows Pidge, knows her strategies, and he knows that she will never engage in a fight against one of her fellow Paladins first. He knows this fight will go nowhere fast if he doesn’t start throwing punches first. 

But he doesn’t mind, letting his body tense before lurching forward; it’s familiar. He punches and kicks at her but very few of them land, Pidge ducking and weaving out of the way, making her evasion tactics look effortless.

It’s frustrating in a way that he recognizes easily, like a small irritation itching up his spine, just wishing his fist would connect with something solid. He knows his anger will get the better of him at this rate and he forces himself to take a deep breath.

It’s like a dance, Keith realizes after a few moments, with Pidge blocking and avoiding all his attacks with ease, only striking when she knows she has the chance. She simpers at him and Keith realizes she’s enjoying this, like one might enjoy a pleasant conversation with an old friend.

But Pidge was getting tired, he could tell. She hadn’t fully recovered from the harrowing battle from the day before and that could prove useful for Keith in the long run.

She narrowly avoids a swift kick to the chest but misses the way he dips the floor, sweeping her feet out from under her with his own legs. She falls with a small ‘oof!’ before rolling back and standing quickly. 

She manages to put up her shield right as Keith aims to kick her again, foot reverberating off the shield.

She looks taken aback, surprised by his sudden viciousness. So, Keith doesn’t let up in his assault, pushing and punching and kicking hard at her shield, making her back up every so often to regain her footing due to his sheer force of power and strength.

Pidge has tactics, sure, but Keith was relentless in his attacks, leaving almost no room for her to get any in.

He goes to give one last kick at the shield, a plan forming in his head to take her down, but he plants his leg funny, at an odd angle. Keith hopes against hope that Pidge was too focused on his attacks but her calculating eyes don’t miss anything and that little smirk is back, clear as day through the blue-tinted shield. 

His kick hits the shield before he can stop himself and Pidge takes full advantage of his faulty stance, using her shield to shove him backwards with such force that Keith falls to the ground briefly before rolling up and into a crouch.

From the sideline, he can hear Shiro shout, “good tactic! Use his energy and momentum against him.” 

Keith can feel a twinge of annoyance well up in his chest; Shiro always had a soft spot for Pidge and she utilized it extensively.

Standing from his crouched position, he regards Pidge wearily. She looks dangerous, standing battle ready and waiting for the right time to strike. She holds her shield up in front of her and even without her bayard, the full effect of her power isn’t lost. Even without it, her cocky, angry energy makes her look unpredictable and wild.

Her skill is not one to be taken lightly and any who doubted that would suffer.

But that weariness was back in her eyes, stance drooping lethargically; he can tell that if he waits her out, she’ll get impatient and, subsequently, sloppy. 

She grumbles something unintelligible, annoyed and frustrated with their sudden standoff, before doing exactly what Keith wanted, rushing him angrily.

Pidge slides past him on her knees, attempting to knock him down from behind by kicking in the pits of his knees to get the advantage of being taller but Keith figures this out quickly and turns around fast, faster than Pidge had expected, and he balls his hand into a fist right as she starts to stand. 

He feels his fist connect with her cheek hard, the shock reverberating up through his hand and into his arm. She rears backwards, stumbling with her face turned away from them as he tries to comprehend what just happened, shocked gasps emanating from the group behind them; they’re small but they carry, piercing his eardrums harshly.

The resounding ‘thunk’ echoes around the room briefly as Pidge crashes to the floor, unsteady on her feet. Keith’s body feels on fire, absolutely burning with shame and anxiety as he chokes on air.

She looks up from where she’s splayed on the floor, hand going up to brush against her cheek lightly. She winces and pulls her hand back, eyes flicking up to Keith’s for a moment and they say everything: shock, betrayal, hurt, anger. 

The carefully crafted silence shatters all at once as Lance yells, “what the hell, man!” Keith feels more than sees when Lance grabs his shoulder, yanking hard on it to tear him backwards. There are deep, angry lines furrowed in his brows, his eyes blazing in anger. “That was totally uncalled for!”

Pidge’s mouth hangs open in evident shock as Shiro quickly makes his way over to her, worry clear on his face as he kneels down next to her. Hunk’s mouth is agape as he takes a few tentative steps forward, looking anxiously between Shiro and Pidge and then Keith and Lance.

Shiro takes her face in his hands before she winces and adjusts his hold, now using one hand to tilt her chin up slightly to gain a better look at the frankly alarming bruise already starting to form on her cheek. He turns her face back and forth a few times before grabbing the little flashlight from one of the side compartments on his suit. He shines it in her eyes for a moment before putting it down and asking her to track his finger movements. 

She does it all without any trouble and Shiro puts away the flashlight before fully sitting down next to her and placing a hand on her back, rubbing soothingly.

“Yup,” Shiro says, almost to himself as he studies the injury from the side. “He got you good. Luckily, you didn’t hit your head on the floor when you were landing or you might’ve gotten some sort of head injury.”

Silence reigns again, and Keith tries to grasp the last few moments. He breathes harshly, anger and embarrassment eating away at him. He knows he has to say something but what would be good enough? 

“Pidge,” Keith finally manages to gasp. All eyes look to him and he suddenly feels at a loss for words all over again. She swallows as she turns to face him better, the bruise already turning a deep red, sure to be a serious looking injury in the days to come. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Pidge says, voice so soft that it’s almost a whisper. He hates how small and weak it makes the usually confident Paladin sound.

“You should probably put some ice on that,” Hunk says after a moment. “It’ll help with the swelling.”

“Hunk’s right,” Shiro agrees, standing quickly before offering a hand to help Pidge up, which she takes without protest. “I’ll take you to the infirmary and we’ll see what Coran has to sort that out.”

Pidge merely nods, and there’s something akin to embarrassment on her face. Keith can’t figure out why she would be embarrassed; he was the one that hurt her! He was absolutely mortified by his actions. She should be angry with him, she should be yelling at him. 

And instead, she looks almost guilty. 

“I’ll come, too,” Lance says, giving Keith one last searing look before wrapping an arm around Pidge’s shoulder and walking her out. Shiro follows dutifully but stops short of the door, turning to face Keith with a soft smile on his face.

“Talk to her later,” he says, still with that stupidly fond look on his face. “It’ll go a long way.”

And then he’s gone. Keith can feel Hunk’s eyes on him, though, and anger starts to well up. His eyes snap to Hunk, irritation getting the better of him. 

“What?” He asks, voice sharp. “You gonna yell at me, too?”

Hunk puts his hands up in surrender. “Nah,” he says casually, putting his arms back down before fondly saying, “little siblings, man.”

“Wh-what?!” Keith exclaims, eyebrows raising dangerously to his hairline. “We’re not related-!”

“Not by blood,” Hunk allows, nodding. “But I can tell you care about her. I have two little siblings back home and I always felt bad whenever I hurt their feelings. God, when I told them I was leaving for the Garrison…” he trails off, a distant look in his eyes. He shakes his head and makes eye contact with him again. “This isn’t that, but… Shiro’s right, as usual. Talk to her, apologize and let her know what happened. You didn’t mean to hit her, right?”

“Of course not,” Keith snarls, shame and sadness growing at his outburst. Sobering, he mumbles, “I would never…”

“Right,” Hunk agrees. “So tell her that. She’ll forgive you.”

Keith nods slowly, murmuring a small ‘thanks’, before he starts walking to exit the training room and head to the infirmary. 

His mind is racing as he walks through the corridors of the Castle, letting himself sulk in the knowledge that he’d just hurt one of his teammates, one of his siblings. 

He’d broken the Paladin Code. 

He arrives at the infirmary faster than he would’ve liked, stopping in the doorway to watch the chaos.

Shiro and Lance stood guard, or more accurately, Shiro did. Lance sat down on the cot next to Pidge. Keith can’t see Pidge’s face, turned to watch Coran as he bustled about. 

Coran was grabbing a little washcloth from one of the cabinets and talking nonsensically the whole time, walking towards the fridge and taking out a little blue square before wrapping it in the cloth.

He returned to the cot Pidge and Lance sat on and handed the ice pack to her, saying, “don’t take that yur-ki out of the washcloth, now. They are very cold and tend to stick to skin and getting them off is quite difficult! In fact, they would likely rip your skin clean off!”

Shiro gives a small, concerned ‘hmm’ and watches her carefully place the cloth over her skin. From this view, Keith can finally catch a glimpse of her face.

High on her cheekbone, a bruise is already forming. It’s a deep shade of purple that could almost be considered black and he winces; his fist still aches with pain so he can’t even imagine how she feels. 

“Can I have a minute with Pidge?” Keith asks hesitantly. Coran, Shiro, and Lance look up with varying degrees of shock (Coran and Shiro) and anger (Lance) on their faces. “Please?” He adds as an afterthought.

“Why?” Lance bites back scathingly. “So you can punch her again-?”

“Lance,” Shiro scolds, giving him a firm look. Lance pouts but backs down, crossing his arms over his chest. Shiro then looks at Pidge and says, “you wanna talk to him?”

Pidge is silent, clearly debating her options before coming to a full answer. She nods after one terrifying moment where Keith was sure she’d turn him away and the others take this as their queue to leave, quietly walking out after giving Pidge a reassuring squeeze or smile.

Shiro and Coran leave, talking quietly about something Keith can’t quite catch, but Lance stops next to Keith right before leaving the room. Lance turns to him with that same angry expression from earlier before poking him hard in the chest and, soft enough for Keith’s ears only, says, “if you hurt her again, I’ll blast your head off.”

Keith stares at him for a moment and he can tell the threat is an entirely real one. He gives Lance one, sharp nod of his head and the Blue Paladin scrutinizes him one last time before taking his leave. 

Keith stands awkwardly in the doorway. Now that he was here, alone in a room with her, he realized that he really had no idea what he wanted to say. 

Pidge must take pity on him, knowing he doesn’t know how to make the first move, and pats the spot next to herself gently. “C’mon,” she says.

Keith sulks over to her, jumping up onto the little cot. It creaks under the added weight but stays steady. Keith sighs; he knows he just needs to rip the bandaid off.

“Pidge, I know I said it before, but I am so sorry about this,” Keith says, ducking his head so he doesn’t make eye contact. “I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was just in the heat of the moment and-”

“Don’t worry about it, Keith,” Pidge smiles, holding the ice pack to her bruised and swelling cheekbone. “It was an accident, just bad timing on both of our parts. I don’t blame you.”

“I know but I should’ve been paying more attention,” Keith berates himself angrily. “It was just training, I should’ve toned it down a bit-”

He’s cut off by a small hand landing lightly on his shoulder. He looks up, caught off guard, and stares with open, wide eyes at Pidge. She’s smiling softly this time and the ice pack is discarded on the cot between them. “Keith,” she says gently, squeezing his shoulder. It’s comforting. “I forgive you.”

He feels unexpectedly choked up at her easy forgiveness, throat tight and eyes pulsing with unshed tears. 

He doesn’t give himself time to think as he grabs her by her shoulder and brings her in for a tight hug. “Thank you,” he whispers into her shoulder, not trusting his voice to be completely steady.

She sighs and hugs him back just as tightly. “You never have to thank me for anything.”


	2. Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They weren’t in the clear yet; Pidge was definitely unconscious and they were still in enemy territory - very blown up and ready to collapse around them at any second enemy territory, if he might add.
> 
> Glancing down, he squeezes the Green Paladin’s shoulders, whispering, “Pidge?” with creased eyebrows. She gives no response except a soft groan and a deep sense of dread fills him. The weight of the situation crashes through him and under his breath, Hunk mutters, “oh, jeez.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this one is a DOOZY. Honestly, I really didn’t mean for it to be as long as it is but once I got the idea in my head, I couldn’t get it out and now I present you with this monster of a fic. Enjoy!!
> 
> (p.s. this is still set in season 1-2)

Hunk hates these types of missions; the ones where they’re split into small groups and are sent off to do a little reconnaissance and hacking.

He remembered watching spy movies with his siblings and parents when he was younger, thinking that sneaking around and under the enemies nose would be so cool.

Real life, however, was not so cool. It was terrifying.

He’s with Pidge on this specific mission, and that’s a little scary in and of itself. Not just because she’s a force to be reckoned with, because she most definitely is, but because he was tasked with protecting her. 

Lance was in the hangar of the Galran base they’d infiltrated, guarding the Red Lion and taking down anyone who spotted her, while Shiro and Keith were looking for prisoners or any other information they could find without the help of computers.

Pidge was meant to be their navigator and hacker, as she so often was. While her job was so very important, it also left her so very vulnerable to attacks. Because of this, she generally had someone else with her to act as a bodyguard.

Usually, Keith or Shiro would accompany her during these missions; since their weapons were close range, it was easier for them to take any enemies down. Unfortunately, this mission required them to separate from the rest of the group. Lance couldn’t do it either, since his job as the sharpshooter left him up in the rafters. 

This left Hunk, unfortunately.

Sneaking into the Galran base had been easy enough with the Red Lion’s speed and agility and Hunk and Pidge soon found themselves making quick work through the halls, taking down any sentries they saw with practiced ease, although there had been very few so far.

That was another thing: it was oddly quiet in this base, and Keith had announced his suspicions about that fact almost as soon as they were all inside and split up from each other. Shiro persisted, though, and told them they needed this information.

Pidge hadn’t helped the situation any, citing that she wanted to see if they had any information on her family, and if Shiro had any doubts about the mission at all, that had put them aside almost instantaneously; while tough as nails in any other situation, Shiro always went a little easy on her. 

“There it is,” Pidge whispers suddenly, breaking him out of his internal musings and drawing his attention to an intimidating set of doors just ahead of them. “Central Command. We just need to get in, take out whoever’s in there, get the information, and get out. Easy peasy.” 

“Yeah, we could do this in our sleep,” Hunk chimes in before whispering into the comm, “we just found Central Command, we’re heading in now.”

“Copy that,” Shiro’s voice crackles over the comm, sounding hurried and breathless. There’s a brief pause where they can hear his metal arm whir and something sizzle and pop before he says, “make it quick, you guys. I’m not sure how much time we have here and the Castle can only hold off their defenses for so long if need be.”

“Will do, dad,” Pidge snarks, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. “We’ll contact you once we’re inside.”

Shiro gives one last, “affirmative,” before the comms click off in their ears. Hunk and Pidge make brief eye contact, steeling themselves before running to the door and pressing themselves flat against the walls next to it.

Pidge turns and pries the panel behind her open, reaching in and fiddling with the wires and machinery until they hear the sound of the doors lock being undone. She grins sharply at him before allowing her bayard to materialize in her hand. 

Hunk takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and feels the comforting weight of his own bayard materializing in his grasp. 

Opening his eyes again, he nods at her and she connects two wires that spark something fierce before the door is completely opened wide. 

Hunk turns into the room quickly, bayard in hand with his finger hovering over the trigger and a dangerous look in his eyes. 

It drops as quickly as it had been put up, blaster lowering to the floor confusedly. Beside him, Pidge gives him an odd look and whisper-shouts, “what are you doing?” before turning the corner herself with her bayard raised. 

She comes to a similar reaction upon finding the room completely devoid of life. 

There was just… nobody there. 

“What?” Hunk drawls with a hint of confusion, still clutching his gun as he waited for the other shoe to drop. “Where is everyone? Do you think… do they know we’re here?”

“I don’t know,” Pidge mumbles, making her way steadfastly to the large computer console before hacking in. After a moment of furious typing, her brows furrow in confusion and she huffs a small breath. “Everything’s here… if they knew we were coming, don’t you think they would’ve deleted everything? Or at least the important stuff?”

Hunk nods slowly, and the feeling of ‘wrongwrongwrong’ pokes at him, unease settling firmly in his gut. 

He activates his comm, then, and says, “Guys? I think… something’s wrong here.”

Shiro’s response is cut off by a wave of static that has Hunk jolting in surprise and Pidge making worried eye contact with him from across the room. 

Then, the room starts to shake, hard enough that little dust particles drift down from above. They both look up at the ceiling, curiosity getting the better of them, when a sudden explosion rocks the base and it starts to creak and moan all around them. He and Pidge both cover their heads with their arms, ducking and awaiting further damage. 

But the shaking stops quickly, and the silence is eerie in an all new way, his comm crackling in his ear like someone was trying to say something but there was too much interference. They both straighten up, glancing at the ceiling once again and then each other. 

It’s quiet for a long moment and Pidge whispers with terror in her voice, “what was that?” before another, heavier explosion booms deafeningly loud right above them, sending lights and metal and chunks of concrete tumbling to the ground. 

Hunk puts his shield up as an extra layer of protection, bayard dematerializing with his loss of focus, and immediately a large chunk of concrete hits it. His knees buckle under the pressure and he falls to the ground.

He can’t see more than an arms length away, dust and debris falling all around him. He chokes on the dust, coughing roughly as a metal column lands scarcely close to him and he tucks his body further into itself.

Minutes feel as if they stretch into hours as the base rumbles and shakes and squeals in warning of an impending collapse. Hunk just grits his teeth together and tries not to let the fear overwhelm him.

It takes a few excruciating moments but the shaking subsidies and things stop falling at last.

Carefully, Hunk pries his eyelids open to observe the room around him. It’s a mess of twisted metal and shattered light fixtures, electrical wires sparking dangerously. 

His brain whirs and suddenly he’s aware of the empty space where Pidge should’ve been by the console. He lets the fear he’d been holding back from just moments earlier swarm him and stumbles to his feet before racing over to where he’d last seen the smallest Paladin, searching through the debris with panic-stricken urgency.

A soft groan catches his attention before he can start to really lose it and he catches a splash of green armor under some twisted metal. 

He crashes to his knees next to it, praying for all it’s worth that she was okay, not caring when the sharp metal scratches through his gloves and into his hands as he lifts it off her.

Hunk quickly gets her out from under the metal, eyes searching over her for any major injuries and upon finding none, lets himself sigh a bit of relief, shoulders slumping. 

But they weren’t in the clear yet; Pidge was definitely unconscious and they were still in enemy territory - very blown up and ready to collapse around them at any second enemy territory, if he might add.

Glancing down, he squeezes the Green Paladin’s shoulders, whispering, “Pidge?” with creased eyebrows. She gives no response except a soft groan and a deep sense of dread fills him. The weight of the situation crashes through him and under his breath, Hunk mutters, “oh, jeez.”

He turns to his comm, then, whispering harshly, “Shiro?” He’s only met with static but he doesn’t allow himself to freak out quite yet. “Keith, Lance? Castle of Lions? Does anyone copy? Pidge is unconscious and we need an immediate extraction.”

More static fills his comm and he has to wonder if it’s just on his end or if everybody else was having issues, too. 

Was everyone else okay? Why weren’t their comms working? What attacked the base? Could it have been Allura and Coran? And if so, why would they blow their cover? Could they tell something bad was about to happen?

He knows he won’t get any answers to his questions here with no comms, no Castle, and, apparently, no teammates.

Hunk squares his shoulders and scoops Pidge up, knowing his first duty was to get his teammate out as relatively unharmed as he could manage and get back to the Red Lion to figure out what was going on. They needed to be safe before he felt comfortable doing anything.

He stands, finding her weight to be of little trouble, and traverses around the metal and sparks that fly around them with ease.

He feels better with a semblance of a plan formed in his head, knowing that his job was to his teammate. Hunk knew that if she were awake, she’d be complaining until her voice was raw. But even with how resilient she usually was, that didn’t help them right now; she was down and it was his job to protect her.

Hunk steps through the broken down halls and corridors quietly, and it’s almost disturbing how silent it is; never had he been in such a still Galran ship. 

Wires spark above his head and light fixtures line the wall crookedly in an almost post-apocalyptic scene. As Lance would say, it was straight up creepy.

He takes his time, every so often calling for the others through the comms with either no reaction at all or just static. He’s not sure which is more worrying.

He’s starting to relax some; although the atmosphere felt off, there was no one around. He just needed to stop panicking, it would only make the situation worse.

Hunk finally lets his shoulders drop some, looking down at the still very unconscious Pidge in his arms. He needed to get her to a healing pod, like, yesterday.

He’s so caught up in his thoughts that he doesn’t fully register the sound of a gun being loaded until it makes a soft clicking sound, the telltale sign that the safety was most definitely off.

Hunk looks over his shoulder and down one of the adjacent hallways where a pair of Galran’s stand facing him, looking as angry as ever. His breath catches and his mind whirs to a stop; just when he thought they’d get out of there in one piece and without having to fight their way out, the universe had to go and prove him wrong.

He sees the Galran point something vaguely gun shaped at them and he pulls Pidge closer to his chest, turning until his back faced the weapon. He makes a run for it, adrenaline and fear coursing through him, body slanted sideways so whatever the weapon would release would hit him for sure and not her.

There’s the sound of a blaster firing but instead of pain blooming somewhere on his body, something catches around his left leg and he’s swept off his feet, jolting forward as one foot is tugged back. 

Pidge is thrown from his arms and he watches in slow motion as her body flies through the air, landing roughly, before rolling a few feet away and stopping limply. A second later, his body crashes into the unforgiving metal ground below with a grunt, and time comes back to him all at once.

He goes to get up, scared, angry, and unable to take his eyes off Pidge, but there’s a sudden new presence above him, shoving their foot onto his back and pushing him back down with a pained ‘oof!’

His chin hits the floor through his helmet and he can feel the skin there burst and dribble with blood. A pair of gloved hands roughly take his own from his sides and cuff them behind his back before violently ripping his helmet off his head, giving him momentary whiplash. In front of him, another pair of legs appear, walking towards Pidge. 

Righteous fury lights up in his stomach and he lets out an unintelligible roar of anger, struggling even as the foot digs harder into him. This briefly stops the Galran’s approach, turning back to the other keeping him pinned to the floor.

“Do you think that one will be of much trouble?” They ask, sounding alarmed. A little bit of pride inches into him for scaring the Galra but he pushes it away in favor of watching Pidge, who now looks like she’s stirring from all the commotion.

“It will not,” his captor boasts, continuing to dig their heel into Hunk’s back, making him let out a pitiful sounding whine. The other Galran doesn’t say anything, turning back to Pidge. 

Hunk watches with a small bit of hope blooming in his chest as the Green Paladin turns on her side dazedly and he shouts, “Pidge!” 

She lethargically turns her head to the side, honing in on the sound of his voice as her glazed eyes flick up to meet his worried ones. Her brows are furrowed and he can tell she’s not really all there yet but that doesn’t stop him from shouting at her. “Yes! That’s good,” he praises, feeling frantic. “Listen to me, you have to run! Get out of here before they-!”

The foot lifts from his back before a sharp blow is dealt to the back of his head, knocking it forward until his cheek thuds harshly on the metal floor. Dark spots cling to the sides of his vision while his ears fill with numb static. 

Distantly, he thinks he hears a slurred, “hey!” coming from Pidge’s direction. His head lolls to the side, eyes catching Pidge’s for a moment before they’re drawn towards the Galran still menacingly closing in on her. 

His hearing cuts out and a soft, irritating ringing takes over. He watches as the Galran reaches Pidge, who’s now, despite all odds, sitting up and spitting angry words that he can’t quite make out at the Galran. 

They don’t seem to take her threats with much more than a grain of salt, though, and her helmet is ripped off forcibly before a steel toed boot kicks her right in the temple. The force knocks her to the side and for one, panicked minute, Hunk can’t be sure that he can see her breathing. The Galran doesn’t care, Hunk realizes, and they cuff her, too. 

All he can do is watch as the Galran grabs her by the collar of her suit, dragging her behind them and away from Hunk. 

“Pidge,” he gasps, feeling his own captor take him by the back of his collar and start dragging him in the opposite direction of Pidge. “N-no! Lemme go!”

Renewed anger and fear strengthens him and he struggles violently. He still can’t hear right and his vision is still a touch too dark around the edges compared to what it usually was, but they couldn’t take her; not while she was unconscious and wasn’t able to properly defend herself. This was completely unacceptable and he needed to let these assholes know just what he thought about it. 

He manages to dig his feet into the ground, making his captor stumble and let out a muttered curse. Then, without any warning, they slam his head into the wall next to him. 

The ringing in his ears intensifies for one brief moment, vision swimming dangerously, and then he knows only darkness.

——

Coming back to consciousness is no fun, Hunk decides. His brain swims through muddled darkness while it tries to push him back down, telling him to rest. 

He almost gives back in: the world is bright and loud and mean, but there’s a little pulsing in his head, persistent and sharp, and he lets out a little wince at the pain. 

What had happened? He thinks back with closed eyes; the team snuck into a Galran base before it had been bombarded with explosions. He’d found an unconscious Pidge and tried to help her escape when they were attacked. He was taken one way and Pidge…

Wait, where was Pidge?

His eyes fly open with a sharp gasp, any remnants of sleep pushed away and replaced with the visceral fear of not knowing where the one person he was meant to protect was.

The lights are dim, a soft purple light glowing eerily throughout the room but he squints anyway, eyes trying to dilate uncomfortably in his sockets. 

He definitely had a concussion but that brief resurgence of adrenaline was enough to help him think and remember more clearly: the way the guard had kicked him in the back of the head and then later slammed it against the wall had surely left some damage.

And Pidge… was she okay? Was she even still in the Galran base they’d infiltrated? Was he? Did the others know they were captured? Had they been taken, too? 

Were any of them still alive?

Hunk shakes the thought out of his head: now wasn’t the time. He could freak out later, once he was back in the Castle but for now, he had to make a plan and escape if he could. 

He takes a look around his cell, taking in everything he can while he has the opportunity; it’s basic, he notes. It was the same kind as the ones they found most Galran prisoners in. 

He knows next to the door, there’s a little control panel; if he can just get over there, he might be able to jam… something, anything he has on him, into the little panel and open the door from inside.

He goes to get up but something tugs at his wrists, something cold and heavy he hadn’t noticed in his haste to make a plan and just get out.

Hunk looks at the cuffs around his wrists and chained to the floor below, trying to figure out the mechanics to no avail; usually, the Paladin’s weren’t the ones in chains and those who were cuffed were easily dealt with a swift slice from Pidge or Keith’s bayard. 

They’d never thought about the fact they might be stuck in a situation like this, never decided to take a pair of cuffs back to the Castle to fiddle with and to figure out the locking mechanism.

He looked over the cuffs but one glance told him there was no visible keyhole, fingerprint scanner, or number code to put in; it was as if there was no way to actually take them off without destroying them.

As far as he knew, it could’ve been strictly Galran activated technology. Keith and Shiro could interface with them but humans, Alteans, and any other alien race they’d come across in their months in space hadn’t been able to.

He was still wearing his suit, minus his helmet, of course, but his bayard wouldn’t be of any use anyway; assuming he could even get to it, it was a gun, not something with a sharp enough edge to cut through whatever the Galra used for their cuffs and weapons. Blasting the cuffs off was a no-go as losing his hands didn’t sound entirely appealing to him and he didn’t have any other weapon on him.

Hunk sighs and leaned his head back against the wall; it was still pounding, and his ears were still ringing, and his vision was still a touch too dim around the edges for his liking, although he chalked that last part up to the muted purple light the Galran’s refused to not use.

Then he waits. And he waits, and waits, and waits some more. 

And nothing happens.

His efforts are valiant as he tries to stay awake, as he fiddles with the cuffs around his wrists, trying to keep himself occupied.

Sleep starts to tug at the edges of his consciousness, eyelids practically begging to be shut even for a few minutes and, without his consent, he falls into a restless sleep.

The next time he wakes, his head still pounds and his ears still ring (which was becoming a big concern; they should’ve stopped by now if everything was okay) but the first thing he really notices is just how hungry he is. 

How long had it been? Where was everyone? Surely, his team would’ve tried to break them out by now, even if they were captured themselves. 

One of his friends was bold - or stupid, depending on the way one looked at it - enough to try and make an escape attempt; probably Lance or Keith. Or both, if either of them had the inkling that one might escape before the other and would try to do it before them, like any other pointless bet they made.

So he sits and stares at the door, his resolve slipping as he desperately tries to hold onto it without much, if any, success. 

It goes on like this for… he doesn’t know how long. A routine starts up: fiddle with cuffs, think about escaping and then about his friends, then sit and sulk as he thinks about how hungry and tired and, frankly, sore he was. Every once in a while, sleep would come but he always woke up feeling weaker and more exhausted than when he’d fallen asleep. 

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

——

An explosion is what wakes him next, jolting him roughly out of his restless sleep as sirens start to blare through his cell.

He looks around quizzically, eyes half-lidded and heavy. Hope starts to blossom in his chest, traitorous and bright. Was it…? Could his team be here, rescuing them or trying to escape?

There are a few more explosions that rock the cell he’s in before it all quiets down, the sound of alarms distant in his brain as he listens for any footfalls or commotion outside his cell. 

When nothing happens, the hope he’d so readily dredged up slowly starts to fade away into nothingness, leaving a cold, empty spot where his heart should’ve been. Hot tears contrast with that cold feeling in his chest and he allows himself a little moment to feel bad for himself. He lets a few warm tears fall down his face, shoulders shaking lightly.

The sound of running catches his attention and his head whips up from where his split chin had been touching his chest, hung sadly. His breath is bated as the sounds of a fight pick up outside his cell before it falls silent again. 

Then, a soft grinding noise reaches his ears, like metal against metal, and the door is suddenly wedged open and a red clad figure slips in, leaving the door open a few inches.

“Keith!” Hunk shouts, shaky relief coating his voice. “Oh, thank god. It’s Pidge, get Pidge!”

“Shiro and Lance are on it,” he murmurs, quietly kneeling down next to Hunk to get a better look at his shackles; there’s a glaringly large contrast between Hunk’s frantic words and Keith’s calm ones. “I’m supposed to get you out.”

Keith pulls out his Blade of Marmora knife and cuts through the metal with little resistance. Hunk rubs at his wrists as they fall away and Keith wastes no time in asking, “do you have any idea where they could’ve taken Pidge?”

“I’m not really sure,” Hunk rasps, standing on wobbly legs. Keith goes to support him, draping one of Hunk’s arms over his own shoulder and wrapping his free one around his waist. “They took her in the opposite direction of me, that’s all I know. But, if I were to make an educated guess, she’s probably on the opposite side of this...?”

“Cruiser,” Keith supplies helpfully, and Hunk nods, feeling a little thrown; weren’t they just at that Galran base?

“Cruiser,” Hunk finishes softly, more like he’s talking to himself while they take a few stumbling steps forward before finding their balance.

“Okay,” Keith grunts, helping him walk back out into the hall. “Let’s get you outta here, big guy.”

Keith taps into the comm, telling the others that he has Hunk and they’re heading to the rendezvous point. There’s a soft cheer that’s undeniably Lance and then a deeper voice says something he can’t catch but has Keith smiling softly before he turns to Hunk, relaying to him that Lance and Shiro were happy he was found and safe before they continue sneaking through the halls.

The elation that fills Hunk diminishes some when a little thought niggles at him, persistent and annoying, and he can’t help himself when he asks, “how long has it been?”

Keith is quiet for a moment, like he’s thinking about what he should say. Hunk turns to look at him and he sees the way Keith’s lips are pursed together and his brows furrowed and Hunk realizes with a little surprise that his question and fierce gaze were being blatantly ignored. 

“Keith,” Hunk tries again, a little more firmly this time. “I asked how long?”

“Two and a half quintants,” Keith answers with no hesitation, voice low and gravely. 

Hunk’s world falls around him, vision swaying as he stumbles to a stop to catch his breath, which is very suddenly, and very irritatingly, hard to catch under the newfound knowledge.

“Are you okay?” Keith asks after a minute, a little urgency stuck in his voice. “We need to get going here. Allura and Coran are holding off the sentries and guards with the Castle’s defenses but if we don’t leave soon, they’re gonna overwhelm us.”

“Yeah,” Hunk answers, shaking himself out of his shock as questions tumble around in his head frantically. “Yeah, lets go.”

They stumble through the hallways in silence, the atmosphere urgent. Hunk just tries to breathe through it: the panic, the fear, and, even though the hates the pettiness of it, the betrayal.

Almost three days… why had it taken so long to find them? To get them out? What had his team been doing?

“Why did it take you so long?” Hunk murmurs, sounding unintentionally hurt. It's more of a demand than a question but Keith takes it for what it is and settles his face in steely determination. 

“A bunch of the ships docked at that base started leaving and that’s when Shiro and I knew something was wrong. Then, those explosions happened,” Keith starts. “Those explosions weren’t us, though: they were the Galran’s. Somehow, they must’ve found out we were gonna be there and attacked their own base to get to us. They knew it would shake us out of wherever we were hiding, and they were right. I think they wanted to get us all once we met up.”

“Then what?” Hunk asks, feeling a little bit of indignation well up in his stomach. “There’s still some gaps you need to fill in, bud.”

“Then, Shiro and I met up with Lance in the hangar,” Keith huffs, looking ahead angrily. “We couldn’t get a hold of you or Pidge on the comms and we were getting swarmed by a bunch of sentries and guards. Shiro… he ordered us to get out, and we wanted to stay and look for you, but Shiro wouldn’t have it. He said we’d come back for you two but he didn’t want to risk Volton falling into Zarkon’s hands all in one day.”

“Oh,” is all Hunk can manage and he can see the way Keith shrinks back at his lack of emotion. 

“Yeah,” Keith says back, sounding a little troubled himself. “We knew you weren’t still in the base because Allura couldn’t pick up your suit’s sonar imaging so we had to search for every ship that left this base. This one left last so we figured to check it first. It took some time to track it down since, well, we didn’t have you or Pidge to find it and then it took some time to plan. We didn’t wanna take the chance you weren’t here at all or with Zarkon already. We just wanted to err on the side of caution.”

Hunk hums lightly, staring at the floor as they trudged along. His brain flooded with different emotions, some he couldn’t completely discern at the moment but knew he couldn’t dive into right there anyway; they still had to find Pidge, as far as he knew, and get out.

He could be upset if he needed to once they were all safe within the Castle’s walls.

“I hope you’re not angry with us,” Keith whispers abruptly, sounding a lot more insecure than Hunk had ever heard him. “I understand if you are, though. It was a shitty thing we had to do.”

And Hunk… he wants to be angry, he really wants to feel petty and upset but… it made sense, in a way; if Zarkon got all the Lions, he’d be unstoppable. Besides, Hunk knew what it was like to get an order from Shiro during a tense situation; there was no getting out of it, no ‘what if’s or ‘but’s. You snapped to attention and said “yessir” before doing what he told you to because he was your Commanding Officer and the Black Lion’s Paladin, damnit, you did not disregard what he told you. 

“No,” Hunk sighs, letting the anger slip away like grains of sand through his fingers. “I’m not mad. I know it wasn’t personal. Shiro would’ve done the same thing had it been you or Lance and not me and Pidge.”

Keith sighs, looking somewhat relieved, and Hunk is happy he can provide a semblance of that for him, even in such a stressful situation.

Before Hunk can say anything else, Keith perks up next to him as he listens to his comm that had just crackled to life in his ear. 

Hunk tenses next to him: this was the moment he’d find out about Pidge, he was sure. He watches Keith’s face intently, ready to bear the knowledge of what happened to their smallest and smartest Paladin and sister.

He felt like he could vomit, he felt like he could cry; his heart was stuck in his throat and his stomach had definitely plunged straight down into whatever depths it could find to hide in.

He wanted to know what happened to her, and yet, he didn’t, in a way. 

Keith sighs suddenly, startling Hunk, who belatedly realized it was a laugh; no more than a puff of air, but a small chuckle all the same. Keith looks Hunk in the eyes for the first time in a while and, with the softest, most Keith-like smile on his face, says, “they have her.”

Hunk can’t couldn't describe the genuine, heart-wrenching, cold shock of relief that spilled down his back then, threatening to send him to his knees, even if someone asked. 

Pidge was small and young but she was one stubborn kid when the chips were down. 

Hunk laughs quietly, although he wants to bellow his jollity; in the best situation, he really just wanted to cry and hold her and jump for joy. 

Shiro and Lance had her; she was safe.

After this whole predicament was over, Hunk decided that Pidge deserved a never ending stash of peanut butter cookies, completely at her disposal at all times. 

Hunk laughs once more, willing his tears back into their ducts, just for a bit. “Okay,” he breathes, trying to calm his racing heart. “Okay. How is she? What’s her condition?”

Keith’s own expression hardens again, asking into the comms, “status on Pidge?”

He can’t quite pick up what is being said over the comms but Hunk knows what the answer is as he watches Keith's face morph and fall into anger. Hunk’s stomach drops again, fear gnawing at him desperately.

“What is it?” Hunk asks, suddenly tearful. “How is she?”

“Not good,” Keith says, keeping his tone even as they reach a part in the hallway where it branches off in several different directions before stopping and helping Hunk sit down against a wall. “She’ll need a pod. They’re grabbing her right now and then they’ll rendezvous with us here. In the meantime, you can rest and then we’ll all head out together.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Hunk grunts as he adjusts on the cold floor. He watches Keith pace back and forth but can’t find it in himself to tell him to stop; frankly, he was just happy to see someone else.

It’s quiet and tense for a few minutes, both of them waiting anxiously for Shiro or Lance to say something on the comms or for both of them to meet up with them, when from down one of the halls is a smattering of blaster fire and distant yelling. Keith’s body easily falls into a battle ready position, sword and shield coming up in front of him.

It falls silent once again and Keith hums lightly, straightening back up but not putting his sword or shield down.

Hunk’s about the break the silence with a little small talk when he’s interrupted by the sound of running from down one of the halls. It’s clear Keith hears it, too, because his grip tightens around his bayard and he places himself in front of Hunk, acting like a human shield.

Hunk tenses, hand hovering over the area where his bayard was stored while his body leaned to the side in order to get a peak around Keith; he wanted to know what was coming, and if he could help.

From down the hall, there’s frantic, familiar shouting and the sound of people running before both Lance and Shiro come hurtling around the corner in dead sprints. They halt abruptly upon seeing them, almost crashing into each other. At the sight of them, Keith’s bayard dematerializes and his shoulders droop a little. 

Shiro’s arm still glows faintly as he turns back to face the hall they’d just left, looking red and angry in the face. He huffs a sharp breath and takes a look around before locking eyes with Hunk, features softening slightly. 

“Hunk, it’s good to see you,” Shiro starts gently, always the hero with a heart of gold. “I’m sure Keith already told you, but I’m happy you’re safe, and I’m sorry we had to leave you. If there’s anything-”

“Now is not the time, Shiro,” Lance interrupts firmly, and Hunk’s eyes gravitate towards him. They make eye contact and Lance smiles so widely that Hunk would think it hurt, but that’s not the part that truly catches his eye.

Ensconced in his arms laid Pidge, looking small and frail. Her bright eyes are closed and eyebrows bunched together in discomfort. Dried blood is crusted down the side of her face, almost black looking, while an angry bruise forms near her jaw and around her neck in the shape of a hand. Hunk makes a disgruntled sound in the back of his throat upon noticing that little detail; when had that happened? He hadn’t been there for that.

Next to him, Keith looks murderously angry and his sword reforms in his hand, immediately going to engage with the Galrans that we’re undoubtedly down the hall Shiro and Lance has just emerged from with Pidge. 

“Keith!” Shiro calls, and Pidge stirs in Lance’s arms slightly. “Lance is right, we have to get our team back to the Castle.”

Keith still looks like he wants to run off but Shiro’s command is firm and not the kind to easily disregard for the sake of his own feelings. 

“Keith,” Hunk tries, pushing himself up while leaning heavily on the wall. “Can you help me to the ship?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Keith stammers, briefly locking eyes with Shiro before turning to help Hunk. “Let’s get outta here, yeah?”

——

“Lance, stay out of that! Those are for Pidge when she wakes up!”

Lance pouts, pulling his hand back before crossing his arms petulantly. Hunk merely throws him a firm look before turning back to his work.

“Are you sure you should even be up and around right now?” Keith asks from his seat by the counter, eyeing one of Hunk’s more artistic creations suspiciously. “You just got out of your pod a few hours ago and you were in there for two days, Hunk.”

“I’m sure,” Hunk reassures him. “Have faith in me, man. Cooking calms me. I’ve never felt so serene.”

“Are you sure I can’t even have one?” Lance whines, staring longingly at the peanut butter cookies that were fresh out of the oven. “Surely, she can’t eat all of them-”

“Lance, I said knock it off,” Hunk says with a little more venom than he knew was appropriate. Both Lance and Keith give him wide eyed looks and Lance slowly retracts his hand. 

“Sorry, buddy,” Lance says softly, looking fully abashed. “It was a joke, I really didn’t mean any harm.”

“I know,” Hunk sighs, placing a tray of cookies down on the counter with a little more force than necessary. 

It’s quiet for a few moments as Hunk quietly seethes but isn’t able to put his finger on why he was so upset. 

“Are you okay?” Keith asks softly. Hunk grips the counter, wishing it would break or at least crack under the pressure.

Was he okay? No, not really, if he was being completely honest. He thought he was never going to leave that cell. For a moment, he thought that was where he was going to die.

Hunk sighs, trying to let the anger go. “I’m okay,” he says. “It’s just- it’s hard. I was really… scared back there. I thought something really bad happened to you guys, not to mention Pidge.”

“I’m sorry, buddy,” Lance says again, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly. “You know we wouldn’t have left you there if we had the choice.”

Hunk nods, ready to fully forgive them, when Allura darts into the kitchen with a small, relieved expression. “Pidge is awake,” she says, as if that weren’t a world shattering development. 

The boys perk up, and before Hunk can even fully comprehend her words, Lance and Keith are already out the door with Allura hot on their heels.

Hunk is right behind them, though, and he is right there with them when the doors to the infirmary slide open with a small hiss.

Coran shuffles throughout the infirmary, putting things away hurriedly and bustling about with his usual liveliness. Shiro stands by one of the pullout cots, talking softly to Pidge, who’s sitting rather restlessly on a cot and looking like she’d rather be anywhere else than under the spotlight.

She looks up upon the door swooshing open and a large, genuine smile breaks out on her face before it turns teasing and she says, “took you long enough, I was beginning to wonder where the three stooges were.”

Lance lets out a choked laugh, racing forward to envelop her in a tight hug. “Pidge! We’re so glad you’re okay!” He says excitedly, words slurring together in his haste to get them all out. Then, his face softens as he pulls back and in a much more gentle tone says, “you and Hunk really had us worried there for a tick, hermanita.”

Pidge huffs an exaggerated cough before she shoves him away playfully and laughs a little awkwardly, saying, “Lance, you’re suffocating me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he says hastily. “Didn’t mean to hurt you there.”

Pidge smiles again, a little softer this time, and Keith puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly before saying, “we’re just glad you’re alright.”

“Yeah, me, too,” she agrees, nodding. “That was… wait- where’s Hunk?”

“Uh, right over here,” he says, putting up his hand in a small wave. Her worried expression drops immediately, shoulders slumping as she gives him a smile. 

“Well, what are you waiting for?” She asks teasingly. “Come on over here and give me a hug, dude.”

He obliges and makes his way over to her quickly, wrapping her up in a hug while her shorter arms wind around his neck. He can hear Shiro murmur something and then the others step back, more towards the pods and start to engage in a soft conversation with Coran.

“Are you okay?” He asks after a moment. Her arms haven’t loosened any and his haven’t, either. “You really got knocked around back there.”

“I’m all good,” she says, pulling back. He does, too, even if it’s a little reluctant, and she gives him a searching look. “How are you? And don’t downplay anything, I’ll just go bribe one of the boys into telling me.”

“I’m better than I was,” he admits, scratching the back of his head a little self-consciously. “I had a pretty bad concussion, some dehydration and malnutrition. You were worse off than me. You had a few broken and cracked ribs. You’re lucky they didn’t puncture a lung.”

“I know,” Pidge grumbles lightly, crossing her arms over her chest. “You can spare me the lecture, Shiro already beat you to it.”

“I wasn’t gonna- listen, I was scared for you Pidge,” he admits, voice wavering. He gulps it back down and she gives him a little nod to tell him she was listening. “The way that Galra guy beat you up and dragged you around was scary. We were both completely powerless and I felt so inadequate. I couldn’t protect you-”

“Hunk,” she says, voice sharp enough to cut through his self-loathing. “I’m a Paladin, too. Stuff like this happens to us sometimes, and I understand that you were scared for me but you can’t put this all on yourself. This end result is probably the best we could’ve gotten for the situation we were in.”

Hunk sniffles a little and his voice is still a little wobbly when he says, “when did you get so mature? I’m supposed to be comforting you.”

She shrugs and laughs before he pulls her in for another hug while she wraps her arms back around him. 

“I’m so proud of you, Pidge,” he admits softly and he can feel her head rest on his shoulder, sighing in soft contentment. 

“I’m proud of you, too, Hunk,” she says. “Thank you for keeping me safe.”

“Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hermanita = little sister (uh yeah, i sure hope it does bc thats what google translate told me. i took exactly one (1) year of french in 9th grade so PLEASE don’t come for me)
> 
> Two done, three to go! How are we feeling about this one, folks?
> 
> Hunk is probably one of my favorite characters in the show and he doesn’t get NEARLY enough love from the fandom in my opinion.
> 
> shameless plug: go follow me on tumblr!! @chaoticlywise
> 
> Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comments and kudos are always appreciated! Have a lovely day!!


	3. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He offers her a smile and is about ready to help her up, to ask if she wants to go dry off by the fire the others had started, when the water starts bubbling from a few feet in front of them.
> 
> They both watch the water bubble curiously, if a little cautiously, before it stops all together. Lance raises a critical eyebrow, pursing his lips together anxiously.
> 
> “Maybe we should-”
> 
> There’s a sudden explosion of noise in front of them and out of the water roars a beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS TOOK FOREVER IM SO SORRY PLS ENJOY ANYWAY

This whole situation was Shiro’s fault, really. 

One offhand comment to Pidge of, ‘hey, it’s your birthday tomorrow, right?’ had been enough to set both Lance and Hunk into a tizzy.

Lance had seen the way Pidge had glared daggers at Shiro, who’d smiled sheepishly at her and apologized profusely, but had been unable to stop the duo from alerting Allura and Coran to their situation.

The Altean’s had been equally excited at the prospect, and Lance had told them of his older sister’s Quinceañera. Enamored, they had asked very enthusiastically what they could do to help. Of course, Lance and Hunk had done the only acceptable thing to do in a dire situation such as the one they were in and asked for the day off. 

The Alteans had happily agreed and quickly found a peaceful nearby planet. It was strikingly similar to Earth with its blue skies, green grass, and best of all, large beaches with even larger oceans. 

It was perfect.

——

Gathered on the Bridge, Lance looks over his comrades with a gleeful look in his eye while Hunk stands next to him with an apron wrapped around his midsection. Lance bounces lightly on his toes, watching the last of them trickle into the room, rocking back on his heels impatiently.

“What is this, Lance?” Shiro asks, already looking exasperated.

“I’m glad you asked, Shiro,” Lance says, clasping his hands together in front of him. “On behalf of our little Pidgeon turning 15 today, Hunk and I decided to to declare today a beach day!”

It goes over surprisingly better than Lance had hoped; both Shiro and Keith perked up at the declaration and Allura had let out the bright smile she’d been trying to smother at the announcement, rambling something about needing to find the proper attire for all of them before heading off to some secluded part of the ship. Even Coran had seemed excited, citing his achy back and his wants for a good sit down with a book on a quiet day.

The only one who didn’t look excited was Pidge and Lance couldn’t lie, that felt like a blow to his pride.

Her arms are crossed over her chest and her eyes are glaring pointedly at him over the brim of her glasses, mouth pointed in a frown that’s almost more of a pout than anything. It’s not entirely accusatory but she’s clearly not enthralled by the announcement either.

The smile Lance was bearing slides off his face and he quickly makes his way towards her, slinging an arm around her shoulders and jolting her forward, definitely not doing him any favors in winning her over.

“C’mon, Pidgeon,” he whines petulantly. He shoots her his best ‘I’m begging you, please do this for me’ eyes, jutting his bottom lip out in a pout. “Pleasey? It’ll be fun, I promise!”

Pidge holds out for all of 30 seconds - just long enough to make him panic momentarily - before she sighs, hangs her head and defeat, and groans, “fine.”

Hunk lets out a triumphant cheer, wrapping his arms around both Lance and Pidge and begins chattering happily. 

Lance laughs as he listens to Keith and Shiro chatting amiably in the background. His eyes flick down towards Pidge, her eyes glued on Hunk as he tells a story about his younger siblings. She’s smiling brightly, a huge contrast between that and the almost impressive amount of complaining she’s doing.

He feels light, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He smiles freely and throws his head back in a laugh at Hunk’s story. 

For once, everything was going right.

——

The sand sticks to Lance’s skin and the sun warms his back and shoulders. He smiles and lets out the barest hints of a laugh. If he didn’t think too hard on it, he could pretend he was still on Earth.

Opening his eyes, he surveys the area around them; a fairly empty beach and a large body of water disappears into the horizon. Shiro and Keith were already in the water, splashing around and laughing brightly. 

To his left, Hunk and Allura were setting up at a little picnic table and chatting happily to each other while Coran interjected his thoughts every so often. 

Further away from the group was Pidge, who laid on her stomach under an umbrella that Allura had fetched for her; upon finding out Altean’s weren’t prone to sunburns, and therefore didn’t have any sunscreen, Pidge groaned and asked a very concerned Coran if the healing pods fixed superficial wounds. 

Lance knew that the beach wasn’t her ideal scenario for her birthday but he couldn’t let her sit around by herself all day! What kind of 15 year old didn’t want a beach party anyway?

Despite all the protests she’d made, now, with a towel underneath her and a tablet in hand, she looked completely at ease. 

“Happy birthday,” Lance says sincerely, flopping down on the soft sand next to Pidge. She puts her tablet down, looking drowsily at him. Despite only being outside for less than a half hour, she was already sweating and her cheeks were tinged pink. Allura had given her a tank top to combat the heat this planet provided but she’d refused to wear anything but her classic, grey cargo shorts along with it. “How’s it goin’ over here?”

“Oh, it’s going great,” Pidge answers, voice flat. “I just love burning to death, how did you know this is exactly what I wanted?”

A little bit of embarrassment wells up in him and his cheeks tint lightly; he knew this isn’t what she would’ve planned had she been given the opportunity. 

Just as he’s about to apologize for bringing her all the way out here for a birthday she clearly didn’t want to celebrate, he notices the little smile on her face as she watches Keith and Shiro splash around playfully in the water, laughing and smiling widely. 

The whole day might not have been lost after all, then.

He watches Pidge lay her cheek down on her arm, sighing contentedly as her eyes slipped shut. It was a rare occasion to see their tech guru so relaxed and it was almost refreshing to see her act her age for once.

Although she looked completely at ease, a thought niggled at the back of Lance’s mind and he smiled deviously to himself. 

“Pidge?” He asks rather abruptly, making her jump a little before letting out a tired ‘hmm?’ in response. “Will you do me a favor?”

“What is it?” She mumbles, eyes still closed and face still relaxed. 

“Let’s go swimming!” He exclaims excitedly. Her eyes snap open wide and she watches him with sharp eyes as his smile grows all the more mischievous. 

“Lance,” she warns, voice deadly calm. “The point of me sitting under this umbrella is so I don’t get sunburnt. I’ll burn alive out there.”

“C’mon!” He whines dramatically. “It’s your birthday! Don’t you wanna do something fun?”

“I was having plenty of it before you came over here and started haranguing me,” she says, holding up her tablet for proof. “Go bother Allura or something.”

He whines again, dragging her name out longer than necessary while she gives him a completely unimpressed look.

“Hey, leave her alone,” Keith suddenly calls from in the water, face serious. “If she doesn’t wanna do whatever you’re pestering her about, she doesn’t have to. It’s her birthday, after all.”

“Yeah,” Pidge sneers lightly before an all out war could start between Lance and Keith. “It’s my birthday.”

Lance mocks her until she kicks him hard in his side and he winces; that would definitely leave a bruise. Pidge closes her eyes again, satisfied at the pain she’d inflicted, before once again letting her features relax as the stress bled out of her face. 

Lance didn’t feel upset, though. As far as he was concerned, this wasn’t a lost battle yet and he goes for his most trusted tactic: flattery.

“Have I ever told you that I love the color of your eyes?” Lance asks, blinking innocently at her. She squints an accusatory eye open, scrutinizes him critically, and then snaps it back shut defiantly.

“Stop it,” Pidge grumbles against her arm, turning her head away from his incessant chatter. 

“But I can’t stop!” Lance cries mockingly, enjoying the way it was clearly annoying her. “You’re beauty is of sheer magnitudes that one cannot-”

“For the love of- just shut up!” She snaps, and Lance grins wickedly. “Can’t you see I’m trying to relax here?” 

“I’ll stop if you go swimming with me,” he bargains, elbowing her side softly. Her glare gives him second thoughts and he quickly stops his pestering. 

“Lance, I said no,” she whines, pouting at him. Lance knew he wouldn’t last long under that stare: not many could hold up under Pidge’s puppy dog eyes (least of all Shiro, which had been a surprising - if useful - revelation). She mutters something about ‘being too old for this shit’ before saying with an authority that rivaled Allura’s, “go away.” 

“Meanie,” Lance grumbles halfheartedly, sulking away and back out into the sun. He knew when to take a hint, contrary to popular belief, and he listened to Pidge huff an irritated sigh, readjusting under the umbrella as he walked away. 

Lance keeps an eye on Pidge throughout the day, even managing to coax her out once at the promise of food. Hunk had made a peanut butter pie, or as close to one as he could get in space. They’d all sang happy birthday to her, even at the Alteans confusion. 

She looked happy before it had suddenly turned sour while they were all munching on pie. He’d seen the way her smile had dimmed slightly, a wistful look on her face as she stared out at the sky, chewing distractedly.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was missing her family.

After that, she’d pretty much secluded herself under her little nook of shade and rotated between napping, reading, talking to whoever came to visit her, and doing something on her tablet that looked suspiciously like work. Lance would have to talk to her about that later, when it wasn’t her birthday and she wasn’t so bitter about her family situation.

Time passes indistinctly and Pidge must end up dozing for most of the day because the next time Lance is really aware of her presence, the sun is setting and he’s the only person still sitting in the vast ocean.

The sky is a mosaic of beautiful colors. Reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows paint the sky near the setting sun while stars start to spot the blue and purple further back. Behind some of the puffy clouds, Lance can already spot one of this planet’s moons rising over a misty mountain. In front of him, the water glistens with hues of colors he’s never before been privy to and it's a little jaw dropping. 

Screw what Pidge said: sunsets were 100 times more beautiful than any technology he’d ever come across.

The others are spread along the beach, loath to disturb Pidge’s deep sleep that she, more often than not, found elusive. Hunk had tried to persuade Lance into joining them around the fire they were planning to start but Lance had denied his offer and told him he’d be over later. Hunk had been reluctant to leave but slipped away at Keith’s call.

He’s just about to get up, the last of the sunlight starting to fade away, when a quiet voice catches his attention.

“Hey,” Pidge greets softly, wading into the water until she’s ankle deep before sitting down in the ocean next to him despite still being dressed in her lounge wear.

“Hi,” Lance mumbles back without his usual brand of playfulness. She gives him an odd look at that but doesn’t say anything about it.

They’re quiet for a few moments, not needing words to enjoy the sound of their friends' distant laughter, the waves gently rolling onto the shore, and the native animals chirping along.

“Do you miss it?” Pidge murmurs suddenly, catching Lance’s attention over the softly lapping waves. “The beach?”

Lance hums in consideration. “Less now than before,” he answers truthfully, shrugging. “When we first got dragged into space, it was… really hard on me. There’s still not a single day that goes by that I don’t think about Earth or my family.”

“Same here,” Pidge admits. Lance turns to face her, watching as she drags a finger absentmindedly over the surface of the water, sending ripples over the calm surface. “I can’t stop thinking about my dad and Matt. What could be happening to them, if they’re even still alive…”

“We’re gonna find them, Pidge,” Lance says firmly, placing a hand on one of hers and squeezing lightly. It was something he used to do with his younger siblings back home when one of them was upset and it brought a little comfort to him when she leaned her head over and into his shoulder. “We’re all gonna do whatever it takes to bring them home.”

“I know,” she murmurs, voice whispy and tired. It’s then that Lance realizes that she might drift off right there and, if he’s honest, it’s a little flattering; Pidge isn’t known to be the most trusting person in the universe so it spoke volumes that she felt comfortable enough around him - or any of the team, for that matter - to let her walls down long enough for them take some of the burdens she faced daily off of her shoulders, or in this case, just to use theirs to sleep on. To willingly let them help her meant she trusted them and knew they wouldn’t use her weaknesses against her.

Feeling unexpectedly choked up, Lance blinks back tears rapidly before nudging her lightly and squeezing her hand. “C’mon,” he says, keeping his voice soft and teasing. “No sleeping in the ocean, especially not one on an alien planet.”

A laugh bubbles out of Pidge’s mouth before she can stop it, a little giggling sound. It’s cute and he’s briefly reminded of her age and the reason they were on this planet in the first place: it was her 15th birthday. They were supposed to be celebrating, and here they were moping around. What a lame birthday.

He offers her a smile and is about ready to help her up, to ask if she wants to go dry off by the fire the others had started, when the water starts bubbling from a few feet in front of them.

They both watch the water bubble curiously, if a little cautiously, before it stops all together. Lance raises a critical eyebrow, pursing his lips together anxiously.

“Maybe we should-”

There’s a sudden explosion of noise in front of them and out of the water roars a beast with what had to have been at least 10 tentacled arms, completely cutting off Lance’s concern and drenching them further with the breadth of its splash. His eyes widen, watching as the creature grows upwards from the water before it stops at an astoundingly terrifying 15 feet to regard them with narrowed eyes, lips drawn back in a snarl to reveal sharp teeth. 

They both stare up at the creature that towers over them, eyes glaring down at them. Their mouths open in shock and fear, tensing as they take in the massive beast before them.

Lance rears back, hand instinctively reaching for Pidge’s wrist in the water, and they both stand quickly, ready to make a run for it. Then, with a swiftness it didn’t look like a creature of its size should be able to possess, the thing raises one of its many arms out of the water and wraps it around Pidge’s ankle and yanks. 

She shrieks, all the joy from earlier replaced with the fear of death, clutching at his wrist like a lifeline. It tugs at her leg and her grip is so tight on him that he’s sure he can hear his shoulder pop out of place over the deafening sounds of frantic splashing, screaming, and roaring. 

Lance’s feet dig into the soft, watery sand beneath him, unable to get any purchase. One swift tug sends him slipping and falling on his back, heels digging into the sand as he pulls on her wrist with a panic-stricken fervor, clawing to get her back.

“Guys!” Lance shouts, feeling frenzied as he tugs back on her arm. “Help! HELP!”

The water splashing around them gets in between their hands, loosening their grip and Pidge screams again, this time louder and more piercing but no less fearful. Her wails are horrifying in a way he hadn’t expected; Pidge, their fiery, brave, clever Green Paladin, was absolutely terrified.

There’s a calamor behind him and he thanks any and all gods he can think of as he takes a quick glance over his shoulder, distantly watching the rest of his team run towards them.

He’s too wrapped up in his panic to acknowledge when they splash into the water a few moments later, but feels a pair of thick arms wrap around his chest from under his arms, helping to pull Pidge back. One glance over Lance’s shoulder tells him that it’s Hunk helping him as Allura and Keith attempt to ward off the creature by shouting at it and using whatever they found laying haphazardly on the beach to try and fend off its other arms.

Shiro runs into the water, arm whirring before it lights up to a blinding white heat so hot that any little water droplets that splashed onto it would sizzle and crackle into steam. He raises his arm, then, shouting, “stand back!” before driving it through the air, slicing through the tentacle ruthlessly. 

Bluey-green blood splatters the surface of the water as the monster roars with pain and rage. Something warm and wet splashes on Lance’s face and he can’t be sure if it’s just water or the blood from the beast but he’s not entirely sure he wants to know, either.

The sudden slack grip on her ankle allows Lance to pull Pidge to his chest clumsily, quickly placing an arm around her waist and hauling ass out of the water, stumbling into each other as Hunk pushes them away. They frantically run away from the shore, Pidge limping the whole way.

He’s not sure if it happens quickly or if he’s so panicked that parts of his memory cut out, but they soon find themselves far enough away from the water that Pidge allows herself to groan, snapping him out of his stupor as her face scrunches up in pain before breathily saying, “stop, stop. I need to sit.”

Lance helps her to the ground, careful of his own shoulder, before looking wearily at the tentacle still latched firmly around her ankle. “Is it- you know...” Lance starts, glancing up at her and then back at the tentacle. “Is it still hurting you?”

“Not anymore,” she murmurs, reaching to take the leg off. The tentacles pop off easily and Lance can see the way her ankle is already starting to bruise and swell . He touches it hesitantly and she groans in response, tears welling up in her eyes as she whispers, “I think it’s sprained.”

“Oh, Pidgeykins,” Lance mumbles, tenderly brushing a hand over her cheek. “What are we gonna do with you?”

“Never take me outside again?” She asks hopefully, leaning into his hand. He huffs a laugh and starts to assess her injuries.

Now that he really gets the chance to look at her, he can see the creature's blood splattered on her face. It’s in her hair, on her face, in her mouth, covering the parts of her shirt that weren’t completely drenched in ocean water. She’d gotten the brunt of it, as she’d been closer to Shiro when he cut its arm off. He didn’t doubt that there was some on every single one of them.

He can feel it on his face, too, itchy as it cools and coagulates. It makes him feel vaguely nauseous and he’s going to make a snide comment to get both their minds off it before there’s a roar from the water.

They looks over in time to see Shiro pull his blazing hand out of the monsters chest, it slinking back into the water before disappearing completely. 

The group stands in the water for a moment, completely still and in battle stances as they wait for something else to happen. Lance can’t help but think of every single of his favorite action movies where the good guys are finally victorious at the end, chests heaving and sweaty and tired but alive and triumphant. 

Usually at this point in the movie, the heroes would be walking away in slow motion toward the camera, a badass explosion lighting up the background, but he’s kinda glad nothing does right now.

Pidge groans as she moves a little, trying to push herself up and Lance feels his anxiety rise, heart trying to pound out of his chest through his ears.

“Guys!” Lance shouts to them, quickly gaining their attention. They’re quick to run out of the water, Allura giving it one last scathing look before she, too, bolts out. Keith is the first over, skidding to a stop on his knees to get to them just a little quicker, the others hot on his heels. 

“Hey,” Keith murmurs, looking from Pidge’s face to her ankle with a stormy expression. “That looks like it hurts.”

“Really?” Pidge deadpans. “This little thing? No, it doesn’t hurt at all. It’s not like I almost got my leg torn off by a monster, or anything.”

“Of course,” Keith snipes back lightly, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. “Something that crazy would never happen to people like us.”

The others quickly gather around and they’re asking too many questions to keep track of, voices slurring together and lapping over each other in their worry. 

“Good Gods!” Coran’s alarmed voice cuts through their collective panic as he jogs over to their little huddle, kneeling down next to Pidge worriedly. “I wasn’t even gone for five doboshes. What happened?”

“Let’s get inside,” Shiro instructs, watching as Lance and Keith wrap their arms around her shoulder and help her limp toward the Castle while Hunk frets over her condition. “We’ll explain everything once we know she’s gonna be okay.”

——

“You just can’t catch a break, huh, Pidgey-pie?” Lance asks, waking into the common room where Pidge was laid down with a laptop sitting on a pile of pillows next to her. Her leg was stretched out in front of her, resting on the elevated ground above the couch with a pillow propping it up. 

Although it’s wrapped up, he can still see the dark bruises just peeking out from under the sterile bandages around her ankle. Lance winces; she hasn’t been able to walk for a week yet but she’d refused a pod, citing that it wasn’t bad enough for it and she’d just ‘tough it out’. The team had been worried and told her she didn’t have to but she’d stubbornly shaken her head and told them to stop coddling her.

While her ankle healed, the boys ended up carrying her most places. She’d tried to push them away the first time Hunk had picked her up to bring her to the dining room but Shiro had spent a good ten minutes lecturing her and then telling her that if she refused a pod, then she wasn’t allowed to refuse the help her teammates were offering. 

They all knew she’d been defeated after that; it wasn’t an order Shiro had given her but it was a close thing. 

Lance quickly makes his way toward her before he stops and crouches in front of Pidge on the couch.

Instinctively, Lance reaches down to place a cool palm on her forehead and then her cheeks before he clucks his tongue in disapproval when he finds it a little warmer than he was fully comfortable with. She bats him away with a glare, though. “I don’t have a fever,” she grumbles. “I sprained my ankle, I don’t think that’ll get me sick.”

“You can never be too careful,” Lance murmurs before taking a seat next to her, lifting her feet and placing them over his lap. “Especially out in space. Who knows what that thing could’ve done to you.”

“Don’t remind me,” Pidge groans, tossing her head back dramatically. Lance chuckles softly, eyes drawn to her laptop that was softly playing a Disney movie. 

They sit in comfortable silence, the animated movie playing in the background. Pidge’s head lifts from where she’s thrown it back and they watch the movie on her laptop for a few minutes. 

“What’re we watching?” Lance asks finally. It’s definitely Aladdin but he didn’t mind a little small talk if he could pester it out of her. 

“Aladdin,” she answers and Lance gives himself a mental high-five, Blue purring in amusement in the back of his mind. “I’m a little surprised you didn’t know. Don’t you have, like, three younger siblings?”

“My brain’s still jumbled from everything that went down,” he shrugs and Pidge scoffs.

“Please, if anyone has a jumbled brain, it’s me,” she argues, crossing her arms defiantly. “I was almost eaten alive by a glorified octopus, or did you forget?”

Lance remembered. Vividly, in fact; he’d been having nightmares about it since it happened a week ago.

Most of all, he just remembered the way she’d shrieked, the way her face had been so open, so terrified. He remembered the feeling of his toes digging into the too soft sand, giving him no purchase to drag her back. He remembered the way her hand had almost slipped from his, water splashing around them and in between their hands. He remembered its sharp, serrated teeth that would’ve torn into her flesh with ease and no remorse. If it hadn’t been for the team’s quick actions and thinking… 

They’d almost lost her that day. He’d almost lost the closest thing to a little sister he had out in space. 

His hand lands down on her uninjured ankle, squeezing it lightly, and if his fingers land over her pulse point there, well, that was just an added comfort. If Pidge notices, she doesn’t say anything, and for that, Lance is greatful. 

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Lance says after a few minutes of continued silence. Pidge’s head snaps in his direction, a concerned and confused look painting itself on her face. 

“What?” Pidge asks, sounding genuinely surprised. “Why are you sorry?”

“If I hadn’t dragged you out there to celebrate your birthday, this wouldn’t have happened,” he says, gesturing to her hurt ankle. He sighs and refuses eye contact. “Besides, it was pretty obvious you didn’t want to celebrate your birthday.”

“Lance, no,” she says, sitting up abruptly. The laptop slides away and the lid closes, leaving them in silence while she stares him down with determination. “You may have dragged us all out there, but we had fun. That monster attacking wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have had any idea that was gonna happen, none of us did. Besides, if it makes you feel better, I had a good time until everything went down.”

“Okay,” Lance whispers, looking up and smiling softly at her. She smiles at him and he reaches up and squeezes her knee gently. “I’m glad you're okay.”

“Same,” she says honestly. “That was…”

“Scary,” Lance finishes. She nods along solemnly. He watches her for a minute, and she stares off into space, like she’s caught up in a memory. A seed of sadness plants itself deep in his gut and he can feel Blue’s distressed purring in the back of his mind.

He adjusts, holding his arm out to her. She looks up, the corner of her lip quirking up slightly while she raises one skeptical brow. “C’mere,” he says softly, making grabby motions with his fingers. 

She smiles outright, then, easily settling into his side. His arm wraps around her shoulder and he leans his head on top of hers, sighing contentedly. 

“Never do anything like that again,” he whispers to her after a few minutes, eyes slipping shut. 

She doesn’t respond, already dozing on his shoulder, and he settles in as he feels the tendrils of anxiety that hadn’t gone away since the incident slowly start to slither away and the beginnings of sleep weigh down on his eyelids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just because we’re quarantined doesn’t mean they have to be!! i hope y’all enjoyed this one, i had a lot of fun writing it (even if it took so long lol). you know i can’t write Found Family Fluff w/o a lil angst to go along with it, or else what’s the point, ya know?? lemme know what you thought of this one!
> 
> shameless plug: go follow me on tumblr!! @chaoticlywise and/or @your-local-hippy
> 
> Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comments and kudos are always appreciated! Have a lovely day!!

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh... whoops?? can you tell who my favorite character is? 
> 
> So I started watching Voltron when the 5th season was coming out but, yes, I am just now starting to write fanfic about it. I love Pidge so much?? She is babey and the team just wants to protect her. Little do they know, she’s a complete badass.
> 
> Okay, that’s all for now folks. I’m gonna try and work on these next few chapters as quickly as possible but no promises lol. 
> 
> Anywho, comments and kudos are always appreciated and thank you for reading! Stay safe, y’all!!


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